Essay Example on The ancient Egyptians cultivated gardens from Prehistoric

The ancient Egyptians cultivated gardens from prehistoric until Roman times 3000 BC AD 100 However it is only from just before the Middle Kingdom 2000 BC that evidence from both contemporary images and excavations makes it possible to visualize how they looked Evidence for gardens comes from excavations illustrations in tombs and on temple walls wooden and pottery models and from documents such as building inscriptions biographies Wilkinson 2012 After reading few articles about garden design in Ancient Egypt I was impressed with their ability to build gardens in quite non hostile conditions and with no tools and machinery we know nowadays In Ancient Egypt these types of gardens were most common palace gardens temple gardens pleasure gardens and funeral gardens Wilkinson 2012 says that in order to create these magnificent gardens the Egyptian designers had to deal with two potentially overwhelming elements the desert and the river In the desert there was too little vegetation and along the river bank there was too much I think that this is one of the things we might have in common with Egyptian designers Nowadays we also have to consider the conditions of the land to make the whole complex of garden design to work Dunn 2003 in his article mentions that Regrettably we know of very few depictions of gardens that surround normal houses more often there is evidence describing gardens surrounding the palaces the temples and the houses of well off owners 

Evidence has shown that Egyptian gardens had many mutual elements and features with today's formal gardens As a rule gardens had a rectangular form a regular plan and the closed composition Series of plants could be located in front gardens of the palace Trees with higher grown were planted on the peripheries and low plants in the middle of the garden Gaps between the trees were filled with vegetables and flowers The center of the composition was always palace located on the central axis of the composition Often it led to arbors with grape vines growing on them The main part of the garden was usually taken up by ponds or pools Anon 2012 Wilkinson 2012 alleges that water was the central feature of many gardens valuable for people as a source of refreshment and coolness Excavations show that gardens were usually walled High plastered walls sometimes with painted or tile decoration hid the participants taking part in processions from the stars of the vulgar Another thing I presume we have in common is that people build walls fences around peripheries of their gardens to keep their privacy I like the way they tried to cool down the air naturally with planting many trees giving them a shade planting alleys building pergolas with vines building ponds pools and lakes Egyptians gardens often consisted of trees shrubs flowers and water plants According to Dunn 2003 eighteen varieties of trees were grown by the Egyptians 

Water had to be carried from the bank of the Nile or from a well Howell Allan 1994 I found it incredible how determined they were to be self sufficient in producing their food despite the fact that growing vegetable and fruit and taking care of their gardens was a very high maintenance job There is no doubt that gardens played important role in Egyptians lives Obviously the actual remains of their gardens are very scarce but all the archeological relics have helped to determine their construction function and symbolism Assuming these representations were based on reality the gardens must have truly been spectacular Daines 2008 Bibliography Anon 2012 Ancient Egypt online Available at http www landscapedesign online com blog ancient egypt 0 Accessed 07 01 2018 Daines A 2008 Egyptian Gardens Studia Antiqua 6 no 1 online Available at https scholarsarchive byu edu studiaantiqua vol6 iss1 5 Accessed 07 01 2018 Dunn J 2003 The Gardens and Ponds of Ancient Egypt online Available at http www touregypt net featurestories gardens htm Accessed 08 01 2018 Howell P Allan J 1994 The Nile Sharing a Scarce Resource a Historical and Technical Review of Water Management and of Economic and Legal Issues Cambridge University Press p 66 Wilkinson A 1994 Symbolism and Design in Ancient Egyptian Gardens The Garden History Society online Available at http www jstor org stable 1586999 Accessed 07 01 2018